pull out of the hat
To select at random, or seemingly at random.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“He pulled a random name out of the hat.”
“The manager pulled a winner out of the hat to decide who gets the extra vacation day.”
“Without any clear criteria, the committee pulled a candidate out of the hat to lead the new project.”
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all hat and no cattle
Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.
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all hat and no cowboy
Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.
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black hat
A villain in a story, especially in a Western (a film or other work of the Western genre).
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brick in one's hat
Drunkenness.
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buy straw hats in winter
Of stocks, to buy when both demand and price are low, so as to sell when demand and price are high.
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does the Pope wear a funny hat
Obviously! Rhetorical question in response to a question where the answer is an emphatic yes.
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eat one's hat
Used in a result clause to express disbelief in a proposition expressed in a conditional clause.
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gravity's pull
Stress or pressure of a situation acting upon a person.
Last updated August 10, 2026